


This Means War

by aretia



Series: Bureaucratic Holiday Gifts [6]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, First Meetings, Getting Together, Halloween, Holidays, Minor Injuries, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:08:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28216740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aretia/pseuds/aretia
Summary: Gabriel’s vision for a picture-perfect Christmas lane is at war with his next-door neighbor Beelzebub’s tacky taste and prickly personality. He’ll have to get them on his side if he wants to win the neighborhood Christmas decoration contest.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Beelzebub/Gabriel (Good Omens)
Series: Bureaucratic Holiday Gifts [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034811
Comments: 57
Kudos: 46





	1. territory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheFallenCaryatid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFallenCaryatid/gifts).



> Ivy, you bring such bright and lively energy into the world every day. You have had such rich experiences in life that you so graciously share with us, and your art and creativity inspire me. I drew on one of our collaborative idea generation sessions to produce this fic, as a tribute to you and the amazing gifts you give to us. And since you like long fic and WIPs, this will be 5 chapters, posting every day until Christmas.

Gabriel had more than the usual bounce in his step as he walked up to the neighbors’ house and knocked on the door. It was the beginning of his favorite season, and time for his favorite activity of the year: Christmas decorating.

“Ah, Gabriel, you’re back from your trip?” said Aziraphale when he opened the door. Gabriel’s neighbor two doors down the street was an eccentric bookseller married to an even more eccentric freelance contractor of unknown profession. Even though the couple was a little odd, Gabriel still considered Aziraphale to be his closest friend in town.

“Yes, and not a day too soon! The holiday season is coming up, and I want to talk to you about our plans for the neighborhood’s Christmas decorations this year,” Gabriel said, holding up a manila folder. 

“Oh, don’t you think it’s a bit early for that?” said Aziraphale. “It’s only the end of September.”

“We don’t have a moment to waste. I’ve entered us in the Celestial Observer’s annual Christmas decoration contest,” Gabriel said, tapping a newspaper clipping taped to the front of the folder. “The streets with the most unified Christmas spirit will get listed in the newspaper, just in time for everyone to drive by and see our displays. And I’ve got a flawless plan for us to win this year.”

“Who’s at the door?” came another voice from inside the house. “Oi, Gabriel! Long time, no see.” Crowley arranged himself in the doorway, his arm stretched across Aziraphale’s shoulders, leaning with his palm against the doorframe.

“Hi, Crowley! Good to see you too,” said Gabriel. “So, the decorations.” He reached into the folder and pulled out a sketch of the front of Aziraphale and Crowley’s house, showing where the lights could be added. “This year’s theme is ‘Winter Wonderland.’” 

“Isn’t that your theme every year?” asked Crowley, taking the paper and eyeing it dubiously.

“No. Last year’s theme was ‘All that Glitters,’ that’s different. That was white and gold. This year, I’m going for all white. Simple and consistent,” Gabriel explained. “I’m confident that if we all pull together this time, we’ll win the contest and get our street in the newspaper.”

“That’s nice, Gabriel,” Aziraphale said absently.

“Now, if only I can convince the old lady next door to let me decorate her house,” Gabriel said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the house that sat between his and Aziraphale’s. “I swear, it’s like she hates Christmas or something. Every year, she refuses to decorate, and every year, we lose the contest. But this year, I’m going to do my best to win her over.”

Aziraphale looked up from the paper. He said, “Oh, I meant to tell you this, but she moved away while you were on your trip.”

“Really?” Gabriel’s face broke into such a wide smile that he thought his cheeks might start to hurt. This was the best news he’d heard all day. “Well, then I don’t suppose anyone would mind if I make it festive for the season! It’s a small house, but there’s a big palm tree out in front, I’m sure I could do something with that. Of course, we’d have to do something about the lawn…” 

Aziraphale cleared his throat. “Gabriel, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I don’t think that’s going to work,” he said. “Someone already moved into the house.”

“What?” Gabriel sputtered in surprise, almost dropping his folder. “Already?”

“About a week ago, yeah,” Crowley said. “You should go and meet them. Their name’s Beelzebub.”

Gabriel flashed a broad grin. “I will,” he said, eager to meet his new neighbor and recruit them to the cause of executing his Christmas vision.

As he stepped down from the porch, before Aziraphale closed the door behind him, he heard him whisper, “I hope they don’t eat him alive.”

“Oh, come on,” Crowley replied, “I would love to see that.”

Shaking off the trepidation that remark gave him, Gabriel continued down the sidewalk. He followed the dirt path that cut through the overgrown grass, leading to the front door of the tiny house set in the back of the lot. He knocked a few times, but there was no response. Maybe they weren’t home. He was about to knock again, when the door suddenly swung open, and his hand almost made contact with the person standing before him.

He jerked his arm back. His new neighbor was short, barely coming up to his chest. They were wearing a terrycloth bath robe, their black hair sticking up in all directions, and just generally looked like they did not expect or want company. Sharp blue eyes studied him, one eyebrow raised. 

“Hello… er, Beelzebub?” Gabriel stammered.

“What do you want?” they snapped.

Following in the footsteps of the surly former occupant, then. This wasn’t going to be easy. Gabriel plastered his best grin onto his face. “I’m Gabriel. I live next door. I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood.”

“Yeah, right,” they said, rolling their eyes. “No one just shows up out of the blue unless they want something. What do you want?”

Gabriel sighed. Since they didn’t seem to have the patience for pleasantries, he decided to cut to the chase. “Well, I thought, what better way of welcoming you to the neighborhood than introducing you to our Christmas tradition? Every year, we decorate the neighborhood for Christmas. I always like to get an early start, and I thought you might, too. This is what I had in mind for your house.” He pulled a sketch out of his folder and handed it to them.

Beelzebub held the paper in both hands, examining it. Then, they brought their hands together and ripped it in two, then proceeded to tear it into shreds, which they let flutter to the porch around their feet. Gabriel felt a twinge in his chest, as if they had torn his heart into pieces along with the paper.

“I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but this is a Halloween household,” Beelzebub said. “I’m going to deck this place out with the best Halloween display you’ve ever seen, and I’m leaving it up until February.”

“You can’t do that,” Gabriel said. “We have to present a unified theme in order to win the contest and get our neighborhood in the Celestial Observer.”

“Maybe _you_ do, but I want nothing to do with that,” Beelzebub huffed. “You can take your stupid contest and shove it up your ass.” They turned around and slammed the door in his face.

Gabriel stood on their porch, kicking at one of the shreds of paper. The house next door was refusing to cooperate again, but he’d dealt with that before. He would just have to pull out all the stops and make this year’s display his best yet to make up for it.


	2. declaration

Gabriel leaned over the handlebar of his overflowing shopping cart, reading the scrap of notebook paper in his hand. The song about making a list and checking it twice was playing in his head, although not in the store, since those heathens apparently thought it was still too early for Christmas music. It was mid-October, and the party store had aisles of Christmas decorations alongside aisles of Halloween ones. 

Gabriel already had most of what he needed at home, but he was always adding to his display. Several boxes of white lights, glitter snowflake ornaments, and a life-size light-up baby reindeer filled the cart. The last item on his list was a figure of an angel.

There was one left, hanging on a peg in the aisle. When he reached the middle of the aisle, his cart crashed headfirst into another one, and his body jolted from the impact.

“Watch where you’re going, asshole,” grumbled the owner of the other cart.

He looked up, and recognized his next-door neighbor, Beelzebub. Their messy black hair was half-tied back in a tiny ponytail, and they were wearing a black tank top and gym shorts. Their cart was also overflowing, but with Halloween decorations: zombie torsos, a giant fuzzy spider with a body bigger than their head, and strings of lights, but in orange and purple. 

“If you could just move your cart out of the way so that I can reach that angel, that would be great,” Gabriel said.

“You move your cart. That’s mine,” said Beelzebub. 

“What are you planning to do with it?” Gabriel questioned them. “I need it for my Christmas decorations.”

“Well, I need it for my Halloween decorations,” Beelzebub said. “You people who start setting up for Christmas before Halloween is even over disgust me.”

“It takes months to prepare a Christmas display like mine, so that’s why I get started so early,” Gabriel argued. “Halloween is just a cheap candy holiday. You don’t need to go all out decorating for it.”

“You take that back,” Beelzebub snarled. 

“Anyway, what do you even need this for? It’s an angel,” said Gabriel. “It’s obviously a Christmas decoration.”

“Not if I spray paint it black, it isn’t,” said Beelzebub. “Then it’s an angel of death. Obviously a Halloween decoration.” 

“That doesn’t make any sense. You can’t use a perfectly good Christmas decoration for that when there are Halloween decorations right over there,” Gabriel said, gesturing to the other side of the store.

“Why don’t we cut it in half, then?” Beelzebub sneered.

Gabriel couldn’t tell if they were intentionally trying to make a clumsy biblical reference to aggravate him, but he didn’t take the bait. While they were arguing, he reached over his cart to grab the angel figure. Then, he realized that Beelzebub’s hand had closed around the doll’s body at exactly the same time.

“Let. Go,” Gabriel said, keeping his voice even but stern.

“Make me,” Beelzebub snapped back.

Gabriel thought about it. It would be easy to just yank the decoration out of their grasp. Their hand was so small next to his. And so _cold._ Their fingers brushing against his were like ice. He didn’t know why that detail had even caught his notice, much less imprinted itself onto his mind.

The longer he stood there, staring them down, the more he realized that he didn’t care about this particular decoration. He just wanted to win this scuffle against Beelzebub, and that didn’t necessarily mean he had to walk away with the prize. 

Gabriel let go, and held up his hands in surrender. “Fine, I’ll let you have it. Only because I can tell you’re desperate, shopping for decorations only two weeks before the holiday,” he said with a cruel grin. He thought he would give Beelzebub a choice: either accept his courtesy and the blow to their pride, or give him back the decoration.

“I don’t need your pity,” Beelzebub snarled. Then, they grabbed the angel, threw it into their cart, and then pulled the cart in a sharp, jerky U-turn to leave the aisle the same way they came. 

“Hey!” Gabriel yelled, but Beelzebub ignored him. “At least use it for your Christmas decorations when you’re done with it!”

He stood there and watched them go, catching his breath as if he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. Beelzebub was determined to antagonize him at every turn. This was not going to be easy.

~

Halloween night was a peaceful one for Gabriel. He hadn’t been pestered by any trick-or-treaters, presumably because the kids had spread the rumor around that he only gave away  toothbrushes. [1]

Outdoor decorations were his first priority, but he got started on the indoor decorations early, too. He spent the evening making the inside of his house look like a pristine hotel lobby, with silver tinsel and fake snow lining the counters and the banisters. Relaxing Christmas music played while he put the finishing touches on the tree. That is, until a blast of noise made him drop the glass ornament he was holding. 

Startled, he set the box of ornaments down on the floor and looked out the window. Through the hedge, he could make out disco lights pulsating from the windows of the house next door. Of course Beelzebub would throw a raucous Halloween party that was completely incongruous with the quiet neighborhood. He shouldn’t have expected anything else. He decided to go next door and give them a piece of his mind.

Gabriel stormed down the path to Beelzebub’s house. Seeing their decorations only made his irritated state even worse. Halloween was supposedly their greatest passion, but everything looked off-kilter, like they hadn’t really put an effort into it. The pumpkin-shaped orange lights that lined the path were unevenly spaced from each other, and some were knocked over, either by wind, reckless partygoers, or carelessness. Strings of blood-red lights were flung on the house in chaotic squiggles rather than neat lines. Even the giant spider looming over the front door looked like it was barely hanging on by a leg. It was as if the entire display had been crafted specifically to make Gabriel uncomfortable and on edge. 

Then again, maybe that was their intention. It was a Halloween display, after all, so it was supposed to be unsettling. And Beelzebub did seem to have a particular desire to get under Gabriel’s skin.

A spotlight flashed on, illuminating Gabriel in sudden light. A zombie sprang up from deep in the grass, its arms lunging out at him. “Aah!” Gabriel screamed, jumping back, before he realized that it was just a prop. He looked down at his feet. A red laser light shone on the leg of his pants. “Motion activated. That’s… that’s clever,” he muttered, his voice still trembling. He thought that Halloween decorations were meant to invite trick-or-treaters. He didn’t understand the point of scary ones. Then again, if Beelzebub had intended to scare him off, they had done a pretty good job of it. 

Despite the zombie encounter and another mishap involving fake spiderwebs, Gabriel made it to the front of the house and rang the doorbell. The party guest who opened the door was dressed as a mermaid, but not the fairytale kind. More like the terrifying kind cobbled together from animal parts in curio shops, with silver scales painted over her angular face. “What have we got here?” she said, glancing him up and down. “What are you supposed to be, a country club yuppie?”

“I’m Gabriel. I live next door. I’m here to talk to Beelzebub,” he said.

The freak-show mermaid bit her lip to hold back a bout of laughter, with teeth that looked like they had been filed into points. She turned her head over her shoulder and called into the din, “Beez!” but received no response.

She turned back to Gabriel. “They can’t hear you over the music. You’re going to need to go in and find them,” she said, stepping aside from the doorway and ushering him inside with an exaggerated bow. 

Gabriel shuffled into the dark and crowded house. His height made it so that he could see over most of the guests’ heads, but he still couldn’t find Beelzebub. He did, however, notice Aziraphale, his pastel vintage getup shining like a beacon amidst a sea of black-clad guests. Relieved to see someone he knew, Gabriel made his way towards him. 

“Aziraphale!” Gabriel said, clapping a hand on his shoulder and startling away the plague doctor who had been talking to him.

“Gabriel! What a… pleasant surprise,” Aziraphale said. “I didn’t think you were coming.”

“I wasn’t invited,” Gabriel said. He leaned down to Aziraphale’s ear, although he still had to yell to hear himself over the music. “What are you doing here? This doesn’t really seem like your scene. Crowley’s, maybe, but you stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Beelzebub invited us both, actually,” Aziraphale said. “I’m having a good time. Everyone here appreciates my Victorian costume.”

“But this is how you dress all the time,” Gabriel commented.

Just then, Crowley swept in from the kitchen and slung his arm around Aziraphale’s shoulders. When he was drunk, he looked even more like he might topple over at any moment. “This guy bothering you?” he said to Aziraphale, and Gabriel couldn’t tell if he was joking.

Gabriel held up his hands. “I won’t take up too much of your time. I’m just looking for Beelzebub.”

“I last saw them over there in the kitchen,” said Crowley, jerking his thumb towards the densest part of the crowd. 

Gabriel pushed his way through the guests, and shuddered as he felt their body glitter and clammy drunk sweat brush up against his shoulders. He came up behind someone who looked short enough to be Beelzebub, and tapped them on the shoulder. “Excuse me, have you seen--”

The partygoer whirled around. Staring back at Gabriel was a fuzzy mascot head of a fly with giant red compound eyes. Gabriel flinched back and yelped, for the second time that night.

“Jeez, Gabriel, it’s just me,” came the voice from inside the fly head. Beelzebub lifted the head off to reveal their face. “What do you want?”

For a moment, Gabriel was too startled to reply, and too preoccupied with the rest of their costume. They were wearing a form-fitting leotard and fishnet tights, and it was extremely flattering, if he ignored the extra pair of legs hanging from their belt. It wasn’t as if he had never noticed before that they were attractive; they didn’t need the help of a sexy Halloween costume for that. But his own distraction was distressing. Gabriel didn’t think of himself as the type who turned into a drooling idiot the moment he saw someone in a nice outfit, but Beelzebub was making it damn hard not to be.

He cleared his throat. “I just came over to ask if you could turn the music down.”

Beelzebub barked out a sharp laugh. “Nice try, but no. What are you even dressed as, anyway? A prep school dropout?”

“This isn’t a costume. It’s just my regular clothes,” Gabriel said. “Look, I’m not staying. If you’re not going to turn the music down, I’ll be on my way.”

Beelzebub leaned in close to him. He could smell the vodka on their breath. Their small hand curled around his upper arm, tugging him closer, and he felt their cold fingers even through the fabric of his sweatshirt. The alcohol might make them feel warm inside, but they seemed numb to how cold they really were. He wondered what it would take to make them shiver.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” they said. “Might be good for you to loosen up a little.”

“No thanks. Parties like this aren’t my thing.” Gabriel’s lip curled into a smirk as he indulged himself with one last glance down their body. “You look better without the fly head, by the way.”

Beelzebub let out a scandalized gasp and jerked away from him. They picked up their prop, an oversized fly swatter, from the kitchen counter, and smacked him on the side of the arm with it. “You know what, I changed my mind. Get out.”

“Gladly,” Gabriel said, and he turned and maneuvered back through the crowd to the front door. He trudged back down the path, the sounds of the party still taunting him as he walked away.

The music finally quieted at around five a.m., and he didn’t fall asleep before dawn broke. Glaring at the sunlight streaming through the blinds, he reluctantly got up and got dressed for his morning jog, thinking that at least that would wake him up after an accidental all-nighter. 

His forced optimism fell away as soon as he opened the door. 

The lawn in front of his house was strewn with toilet paper. The trees were completely mummified, and the thin paper stuck to the leaves with morning dew. Gabriel stormed down the sidewalk on his way to bang on Beelzebub’s door and demand that they take it down, when he realized that two could play at this game.

At around twelve p.m., the scream that exploded from the house next door was so loud that Gabriel could hear it from inside his living room. 

He put on his usual chipper smile, and strode out the door to meet Beelzebub on the sidewalk in front of their house.

“Good morning, Beelzebub. Or should I say good afternoon? You don’t look too happy to be awake. Maybe you should think about that next time you go blasting music all night long.”

Beelzebub’s hands clenched into fists at their sides. “What did you do with my decorations?” they growled.

“I took them down,” Gabriel said. “It’s November first. Out with Halloween, in with Christmas.”

“But it’s my house. My decorations stay up till February,” Beelzebub hissed.

“Relax, I didn’t take them. I just put them in boxes on your porch,” Gabriel said, pointing down the path to Beelzebub’s house, and the boxes that were stacked neatly next to the door. “Now you have no choice but to put up Christmas decorations.”

“Or I could put my Halloween decorations back up,” Beelzebub said. “What are you going to do, call the decoration police?”

“No, but I could call the real police and tell them that you _TP-ed my house,_ ” Gabriel seethed, his polite facade breaking.

“You wouldn’t dare. Then I would just tell them that you trespassed on my property and took down my decorations,” Beelzebub snapped back. “Besides, I wasn’t the one who did it. It was probably Hastur and Ligur. Those two never outgrew their high-school pranking phase.”

“It doesn’t matter if you did it or not. It’s still your fault. You invited those lowlifes into my neighborhood,” Gabriel said.

“Lowlifes?! Do you even hear yourself?” Beelzebub said bitterly. “Honestly, if anyone here is ruining the neighborhood, it’s uptight pricks like you. At least I’m trying to inject some life back into this dull suburb.”

“You can do that by putting up your Christmas decorations,” Gabriel said, his spiteful grin stretching wide across his face. “Let me know if you need any help.”

Beelzebub huffed, turned on their heel, and marched back to their house. He could have sworn he heard them mutter, “If he wants a war, he’s going to get one.”

1 He had, in fact, given away toothbrushes last year, but this year he had chosen baggies of baby carrots, which he had expected to be slightly more popular. [return to text]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that TP-ing as a prank is the most unrealistic thing about this chapter right now. Just roll with it.


	3. weakness

Gabriel decided to spend his Sunday going around the neighborhood to make sure that everyone was following the plans he had laid out for them. Aziraphale was a little bit stubborn, as usual, putting up tacky vintage plastic molds on his lawn that he knew Gabriel would make him take down, but he complied eventually. Gabriel had high hopes that everyone would pull together to win the contest this time, even in spite of Beelzebub’s refusal to participate. 

When he passed the house next door, he did a double take.

Beelzebub’s house was decorated. And it was actually _tasteful._ The palm tree in front was wrapped in strings of lights, from the trunk to the leaves, and light frames in the shape of holly berries and angels playing trumpets hung from the eaves of the house. 

He saw Beelzebub standing in front of the house, putting up lights around the windows, and walked down the path towards them. “Hey, Beelzebub!” he called out, waving.

Beelzebub flinched and dropped the cord of lights, then whirled around to face him. “What are you doing on my property?” they hissed.

“I just wanted to tell you that I like how your decorations are coming along,” said Gabriel. “This looks really well done. I knew you had it in you.”

The corner of their mouth quirked up in a crooked smile. “Just wait until you see it at night,” they said.

“I’m sure it will look even more spectacular with all the lights lit up,” he said. “Keep up the good work!” He strode back down the path with a bounce in his step and hope in his heart. Maybe all they had needed was a little nudge to help get them out of their Halloween rut and into the Christmas spirit.

When Gabriel went for a walk that night, however, he lost all hope of Beelzebub being on his side. 

The trunk of the palm tree was lit in gold, and the white trails of light following the leaves looked like something spewing out of it. The lighted angel fixtures were animated, with two frames that showed them moving the trumpets in and out of their mouths. And each glowing sprig of holly had two berries dangling below one leaf. In short, everything was designed to look phallic. 

The worst offender wasn’t even trying to be subtle at all. Rising up in the middle of the withered lawn, illuminated by spotlights on all sides, was a seven-foot-tall inflatable Santa, which showed him pulling down his pants and mooning the street. It was bad enough that they had stooped to _inflatables_ of all things, but he didn’t even know where they had found one depicting _that._

He marched down the path, intending to bang on Beelzebub’s door, but he didn’t have to. They were still decorating the front of their house, now standing on top of a ladder and hanging lights from the second-floor windows. The lights were arranged in a design that _could_ have been a Christmas tree from a distance, but up close, was clearly supposed to be a fist holding up a middle finger.

“Beelzebub! What is the meaning of this?” shouted Gabriel.

Beelzebub tucked the strand of lights under their arm and turned around to face him. “You got a problem with my decorations?”

“Yes, I think that should be obvious,” Gabriel groaned. “The angels, the holly, the palm tree? Your lights all look like…”

“Like what?” they said, turning back to their work.

They were going to make him say it, weren’t they? “They look like dicks.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Gabriel,” Beelzebub snorted.

“You did this on purpose!” Gabriel snapped. “You deliberately chose decorations that looked innocent in the daytime so that I wouldn’t notice, and that turn into pornography when lit up!”

“If I wanted a dick in my yard, I wouldn’t have to look any farther than the one right behind me,” they sneered.

Gabriel decided not to acknowledge the insult with a reply. “Oh yeah? Then what’s your excuse for that?” He pointed across the lawn to the mooning Santa inflatable. 

They turned around to follow his line of sight. “It’s supposed to be funny. Ever heard of self-expression?” they said. They leaned over in an attempt to wrap the strand of lights around the drain spout, and the ladder wobbled slightly. 

“This isn’t self-expression. You’re doing this specifically to spite me,” Gabriel asserted.

The strand of lights slipped out of their hands and they stumbled, then reached down to reel it back in. “I am not. Not everything revolves around you, you know.”

“Really? Because it looks like you purposely organized a tacky and lewd Christmas display just to ensure that I didn’t win the contest.”

“I don’t give a damn about your stupid contest,” Beelzebub spat. They stretched their hand out toward the drain spout again, but they still couldn’t reach, and the ladder tilted dangerously underneath them. “Now get out of my way so that I can work.”

“Don’t you think you should get down and move the ladder over?” Gabriel called.

“What, it’s not enough for you to complain about my decorations, now you’re going to criticize how I put them up, too?” They clenched the strand of lights between their teeth, and with one hand tried to throw the end of it around the drain spout while holding on to the ladder with the other. 

“It’s just that I’ve been doing this for a long time, and that doesn’t look safe,” Gabriel said, unable to keep a waver of concern out of his voice.

“Why do you even care? It’s not like you--eep!” They shrieked as the ladder toppled out from underneath them, pitching them off of it with nothing but the strand of lights to hold onto. Beelzebub fell down into the empty flowerbed, pulling half the lights off the wall along with them.

“Beelzebub!” Gabriel yelled. He ran over to them, wading through the tall grass. “Are you okay?” He crouched down next to them and held out his hand to help them up. 

“I’m fine. Stop hovering over me,” they grunted. They pushed themself unsteadily to their hands and knees, ignoring his offered hand. When they put their weight on their left foot, they hissed in pain.

“It looks like you might have sprained it. We should go to the ER or something,” Gabriel said in a panic. 

“No, we’re not doing that. It’s not like I’m bleeding out or anything,” Beelzebub scoffed. 

His hand still unconsciously reached out to them, to give them something to hold onto, but they swatted him away. They took small steps out of the flowerbed and over the lawn, wincing every time their left foot landed on the ground. 

“Just let me help you,” Gabriel insisted. “Please.”

“Why?”

“Because… that’s just what people do,” Gabriel said lamely.

Because it was his fault. Guilt would eat him alive if they didn’t let him help. He had been arguing with them, distracting them, and as a result they had gotten injured. If he hadn’t been there, maybe they would have remembered to get off the ladder safely. Or maybe they still would have fallen, and there would have been no one there to help them, but he didn’t want to think about that possibility. 

“All right, fine,” Beelzebub grumbled. “Just help me get to the door.”

They didn’t refuse his hand this time. They reluctantly placed their hand in his, and then rested their other hand on his arm, leaning some of their weight against him as they hobbled down the path. The touch of their cold little hands made heat rise in his abdomen. 

He felt them shiver against his side, and glanced over at them in surprise. The shock of the injury must have left them susceptible to the cold. For some reason, he felt compelled to wrap his arm around them and shield them from the chilly night air, or to scoop their delicate body up in his arms and carry them inside. He barely resisted that unwise urge. Instead, he ran his thumb over their knuckles, trying to share what warmth he could with them.

When they reached the front step, Beelzebub fumbled in their pocket with one hand for the key, then unlocked the door and let both of them inside. They flicked on the lights. 

Beelzebub’s house was just as much of a mess inside as it was outside. Gabriel had only seen it once before, during the Halloween party, but then it had been too dark and too crowded to make out anything. The floor was strewn with moving boxes, and Gabriel couldn’t hold back from saying something about it. “You still haven’t unpacked?”

“I only moved in two months ago,” Beelzebub said. “I was planning to get it done, but now, well… you know.” They gestured to their ankle. 

“I could help you unpack,” Gabriel blurted out before thinking about what he was saying. 

“What? No,” Beelzebub said. “I don’t need any more of your help. We’re done here.” They hopped on one foot over to the couch, and collapsed onto it, propping their left foot up on a pillow against the arm of the couch.

“You’re supposed to ice it,” Gabriel pointed out.

“I’ll do it later. I’m exhausted,” Beelzebub groaned, draping an arm over their face. Beelzebub was a night owl, if their all-night parties were any indication, but now they looked ready to pass out. The injury must have drained them more than they wanted to admit. 

“You’re going to do it now,” Gabriel insisted, walking over to the kitchen. He found a bag of frozen peas in their mostly empty freezer and wrapped it in a hand towel, making a mental note to himself to get them real ice packs once the stores were open in the morning. He maneuvered around the moving boxes to get back to Beelzebub, and pressed the towel against their ankle, leaning his hip against the arm of the couch. 

Beelzebub pulled their arm back from their face and looked up at him, their blue eyes searching him. “Why are you being so nice to me?” they asked.

He wished he had an answer. The protective instinct that had flared to life when he saw them injured was beyond his control. He never thought that he would end up helping Beelzebub, of all people. They were enemies, locked in an all-out Christmas decoration war. 

An unwanted thought occurred to him, one that seeped in deeper the more he tried to push it out of his mind. Beelzebub was incapacitated. With their sprained ankle, they weren’t going to be able to do any more Christmas decorating, not before the season was over. He could take down their appalling display, put up his own with the miles of extra white lights he had in his garage, and maybe even win the contest.

Gabriel realized that he had left Beelzebub waiting for an answer for far too long, and now they looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to go to bed?” he asked them in return.

“Pfft. No. I’m not dealing with stairs right now,” Beelzebub snorted. “I can sleep just fine right here.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then. Don’t forget to take the ice off before you fall asleep.” Gabriel stood up and made his way to the front door. He hesitated, and glanced from the light switch back to Beelzebub. They gave him a wordless nod. He switched off the lights and stepped out the door. He closed it behind him, gave the knob a turn to make sure it locked. Then, he looked up at the house, and the string of red lights hanging askew from the second story window.

He could do it. He could take down their decorations right now, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop him. He had done it before, when he had taken down their Halloween decorations. But that had been for revenge for the toilet paper prank, while this would just be adding insult to, well, injury. It would be wrong. 

He had never seen his neighbor look so vulnerable before. Beelzebub was always prickly, always independent, always on the counter-attack before anyone else even said anything. He had never expected them to need his help, any more than he had expected to find himself so compelled to help them. 

But they had let him help. They had let him in, and he had seen a new side of them, too.

He wanted to get to know that side of them more. He wanted them to keep letting him in. Betraying them by taking down their decorations would ensure that they would slam the door in his face for good.

In the morning, he woke up to a text from an unsaved number, and felt his heart jump just a bit. Before he even opened it, he knew it was from Beelzebub. He had left a note with his number on it in their kitchen, asking them to text him if they needed anything, but he hadn’t expected them to actually use it. 

He opened the text. It read, _On second thought, I wouldn’t say no to you helping me unpack._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've never seen Christmas lights on a palm tree, [please take a look.](https://www.islandpacket.com/entertainment/holidays/article191051439.html)


	4. surrender

The month of November went on like this. Gabriel would text Beelzebub that he was coming over, and they would leave the door open for him. Then, he would open boxes and unload their contents while Beelzebub ordered him around from the couch. Even after their ankle was mostly healed and they could technically do it by themself, he still kept up this routine. 

He still felt guilty for indirectly causing their injury, but that wasn’t all of it. He liked getting to see his surly neighbor with their guard down. He liked how honest they were, how they said what they meant without pretense. Their interactions had shifted in tone, from animosity to mutual respect. He felt wistful that the unpacking was almost done, because then he wouldn’t have any excuse to come over to Beelzebub’s house anymore.

_You really don’t have to. I can handle the rest by myself,_ Beelzebub had texted him earlier that day.

_Don’t worry about it. I’ll be there,_ had been his response.

Tonight, he needed the excuse. It was the night of the contest judging, and he had just received a very pointed email from the Celestial Observer that any neighborhood with ‘inappropriate’ decorations would be disqualified. If Gabriel could stay there until nightfall, he could cut the power to Beelzebub’s lights and make sure that their heinous display wouldn’t cost him his chances.

Gabriel picked up the final box and set it down on the floor in front of the couch, kneeling next to it. “I wonder what’s in this one?” he said. 

Beelzebub lunged off the couch. “No! Put that back!” 

They tried to grab the box away from him, and their hands covered his. He looked up, and their face was closer than he expected, so close that their foreheads almost bumped into each other. For a moment, he wanted to close that distance. Then, they pulled away, not meeting his eyes as they climbed back onto the couch.

“What’s in here that you don’t want me to find out about? Is it your dildo collection or something?” Gabriel teased.

“Shut up,” Beelzebub huffed. “Fine. Open it if you want.”

Gabriel ran the box cutter through the tape and opened the box. Inside it, he found a rolled-up stocking, some tinsel garlands, and the most hideous nutcracker he had ever seen. He held up the nutcracker. “Do you want me to put these up?” he asked.

“No thanks. I’d rather not have any reminder in my house that it’s the Christmas season,” Beelzebub grumbled.

That raised even more questions. “But you worked harder on your Christmas display than anyone else in this neighborhood,” he pointed out. 

“That was just because I didn’t have the option of leaving my Halloween decorations up all season like I usually do,” they said, shooting him a glare. 

“Why would you want to do that?” Gabriel pressed on. 

“Because I like Halloween better than Christmas, okay?” Beelzebub said. “Halloween is fun. It’s a time for partying with your friends and dressing up, or just hanging out alone with a horror movie. It’s about… being yourself.” They huffed out a breath through their nose. “Christmas is a lot more pressure. It’s about being with family, and that’s not my idea of a fun time.”

Gabriel sensed that they were on the verge of revealing something deeply personal, and he didn’t want to scare them back into retreating again, so he approached the subject as if it were a wild animal. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but… what do you mean by that?”

“My parents are these stuffy rich folks who expect everything around them to conform to a certain image,” Beelzebub said. “I hated constantly having to impress people who didn’t really care about me. My parents made it clear that I wasn’t what they wanted me to be, and I didn’t want to be that either.”

While he was kneeling on the floor and they were sitting on the couch, he had the rare experience of looking up at Beelzebub. The higher ground seemed to put them in a more relaxed state of mind, but they were still guarded even after that admission. Gabriel didn’t know what to say to keep them talking, other than to reassure them that he was still listening. “That sounds awful.”

“I resented Christmas because I always saw people being happy about spending time with their families, when those two things do not go together for me at all,” said Beelzebub.

Gabriel stood up, and sat down on the couch next to Beelzebub. He left a few inches of space between them, not making contact, but leaving the opportunity there if they wanted to take it. He wanted to put a comforting arm around their shoulders, but settled for folding his hands in his lap instead.

“I understand if Christmas brings up painful memories for you and you don’t want anything to do with it,” he said. “I still think it’s a shame that they ruined it for you like that. Christmas doesn’t have to mean the same thing for you as it does for everyone else. You can still find your own joy in it.”

“Oh, don’t you try to lecture me about the true meaning of Christmas,” Beelzebub said mockingly. “I mean, to you, it’s just an excuse to decorate your house and show off that you’re better than everyone else in the neighborhood, right?”

Gabriel’s breath caught in his throat. “Er. I don’t know about that,” he said. The reminder of the contest set him on edge. He glanced out the window above the couch behind them, watching the street for any cars slowing down as they passed. 

“Why do you keep looking out the window like that?” Beelzebub asked him, one eyebrow raised to match the suspicion in their tone. 

“I was just thinking it’s getting kind of dark. Maybe I should head home,” Gabriel said. If he got out now, maybe he could just unplug the inflatable on his way out. The rest of the decorations weren’t that bad as long as no one looked too closely.

“But your house is right next door,” Beelzebub said, narrowing their eyes at him. Then, their eyes grew wide and accusatory. “I know what you’re doing. You only came over here because you wanted to turn off my decorations, is that it?”

Gabriel swallowed hard, stunned that they had figured him out so easily. He tried to recover with humor. “Uh, yeah. You got me,” he said with a shrug. “Come on, can you just do me this one favor, and turn off your lights tonight?”

Beelzebub’s gaze darkened. Gabriel realized that he had made a mistake. 

They stood up from the couch and stumbled back from him. “I can’t believe I opened up to you about my family. You’re just like them. Do you ever think about anything other than that damn contest? About anyone other than yourself?” they said, their voice breaking. 

“Beelzebub, wait, just listen to me for a second--” Gabriel blurted out, even though he had no idea how he was going to finish that sentence.

“Why? You don’t have anything important to say,” Beelzebub snapped. “Goodbye, Gabriel.” They grabbed their keys from a bowl on a table by the front door, leaving their cell phone on the charger next to it. Then, they stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind them. 

Gabriel realized that they had left him in their own house. He followed them out the door. “Beelzebub!” he called to the empty street. They had already disappeared. The sky was dark, and rain came down in a faint mist.

He couldn’t stay in their house while they weren’t there and wait around for them to come back. He couldn’t go back to his house and wait for the judges like nothing had happened, either. With nowhere else to turn, he went next door to ask Aziraphale and Crowley for help. 

He knocked on the door, and it was Aziraphale who opened it as usual. “Oh, Gabriel, do come in,” he said.

Gabriel stepped inside, but he didn’t take the seat on the couch, nor the biscuits, that Aziraphale offered. He stood there in the middle of their living room, and said, “I fucked up.”

Crowley, who had been standing at the kitchen counter and apparently taking out some frustration on a lump of bread dough, looked up at Gabriel. He stopped kneading and propped his elbows on the counter. “Did you now? This I gotta hear.” 

“I was at Beelzebub’s house, and I thought we were really getting along,” said Gabriel. “But then they accused me of only being there so that I could turn off the lights to their decorations before the judges came.”

“Well? Were you?” Crowley asked.

“Yes,” Gabriel admitted. “But that wasn’t the only reason! I’ve been helping them unpack since they sprained their ankle, and I thought that we were just getting to know each other. Today, I found out that they pretty much hate Christmas. No wonder they put up such a fight against my decoration plans.”

“We could’ve told you that,” said Crowley.

Gabriel did a double take. “You could’ve? Then why didn’t you?” he sputtered.

“We didn’t know it all from the start, of course,” Aziraphale said. “But then Beelzebub invited us to their lovely Halloween party, and they got a tad bit tipsy--”

“Plastered,” corrected Crowley.

“And they told us all about it,” Aziraphale finished. “It seemed like a private matter, so I didn’t exactly think it was appropriate to go spreading it around the neighborhood.”

Gabriel dragged a hand over his face. “How was I the last one to know about this?”

“You’re not exactly the kind of person that people want to open up to, Gabriel,” Crowley said, now back to kneading the bread with increased fervor. 

“Crowley, now is really not the time,” Aziraphale said, with all the exasperation of someone who had been through the same argument with their spouse a hundred times. Gabriel glanced between the two of them in confusion; had Crowley and Aziraphale been arguing about him?

“What are you talking about?” asked Gabriel. 

“You’re kind of a tyrant,” Crowley said bluntly. “About the Christmas decorations, about everything. Aziraphale tries to be polite about it, but he feels worse after you come around. And before you get all defensive, I’m just saying that if you want to patch things up with Beelzebub, you might want to start by practicing your apologizing on Aziraphale.”

Gabriel turned to Aziraphale. “Is that all true?”

“Well… yes,” Aziraphale sighed. “Crowley likes to fight all my battles for me.” He cast a glare at his husband, who looked back at him with a wave and a smile. “I would never say it to your face if he hadn’t brought it up, but you can be a bit… controlling, sometimes.” He wrung his hands in his lap, his gaze intensely focused on one of the pillows lying against the arm of the couch. “Sometimes it feels like you’re only friends with me for what I can contribute to your goals, and that makes me not really want to be your friend at all.”

Gabriel dropped his hands to his sides. Beelzebub’s accusations had felt like a knife plunging into his chest, but at least he had come to expect some level of hostility from them. Hearing it coming from Aziraphale, whom he thought of as his closest friend, made him feel sick to his stomach. 

“I’m sorry, Aziraphale.” The words felt like all the wind leaving him and a weight off his chest all at once. “I never meant to make you feel that way.”

“Doesn’t matter if you meant to. What matters is the effects, and you still have to apologize for them,” Crowley said.

“I think he gets the point, dearest,” Aziraphale called. He clearly knew what a deadly weapon he was wielding with that endearment, as he smiled smugly when Crowley flushed and turned back to his baking. 

“Thanks, both of you. I think I needed to hear that,” Gabriel said. The tension in his legs gave out, and he sank down onto the sofa next to Aziraphale. “Now, how do I apologize to Beelzebub?”

“You need to ask yourself, why do you want to make amends with them?” said Aziraphale.

“I don’t know. I just…” Gabriel was reminded of the question Beelzebub had asked him, that first night in their living room after they sprained their ankle. He still didn’t have an answer. He could take the easy way out, and just not apologize. Now that Aziraphale had brought his feelings out into the open, Gabriel could think of plenty of other times in his life when he had used someone for the sake of his own goals, when he had burned the bridge and never looked back. 

But he didn’t want the same thing to happen with Beelzebub. He wanted them to keep being in his life, and to keep choosing to be in his life. Those times he had spent sitting on their couch arguing about nothing in particular made him feel _right,_ somehow. Like everything in his life so far had been leading up to this, this moment shared with a person who was so different from him and yet so alike, who challenged him and intrigued him and… oh.

“Oh,” said Gabriel. “I think I like them.”

Aziraphale smiled, and patted him on the hand. “Good. Now, you take those feelings, and tell them honestly how you feel. After you’ve admitted that what you did was wrong,” he said patiently.

“Easier said than done,” Crowley quipped. “You’re one to talk about admitting your feelings when you kept me waiting for six--”

“Oh, do be quiet,” Aziraphale hushed him in a teasing tone. He turned back to Gabriel. “Do you think you can do that?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Gabriel said with a nod. “The only question is, how do I find them? They just ran off without a trace and they didn’t bring their cell phone.”

Aziraphale looked pensive for a moment. “You know, there was something else they told us at the Halloween party,” he said. “They said there’s a reservoir not too far from here, where they go when they need to be alone. Do you think that could be where they’ve gone?”

“Could be,” Crowley agreed.

Gabriel grinned. “Thanks, guys. You’ve been a big help.” He turned and walked out the door. Then, he ran back to his house and got in his car, punched the location of the reservoir into his GPS, and took off down the road.

~

The parking lot in front of the reservoir was lit by a single streetlight, the light catching on silvery drops of rain. A small dark figure stood under it. Gabriel parked his car and got out, then crossed the parking lot to them. “Beelzebub!” he called out.

They turned around, and looked at him like a deer in the headlights, petrified, yet ready to flee at the slightest provocation. “What are you doing here?”

“Please, just hear me out for a second,” Gabriel said. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” Beelzebub snarled.

Gabriel drew in a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. “I’m sorry that I went to your house so that I could turn off your decorations before the judges came. That was underhanded, and I shouldn’t be getting in the way of your self-expression.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Beelzebub said. “That’s not the problem here.”

“It’s not?” Gabriel said. He really wasn’t practiced at this apologizing thing.

“This isn’t just about tonight, or the contest. It’s about how you have no respect for people’s boundaries. It isn’t easy for me to trust people, you know? But I trusted you, and you used me.” Beelzebub’s voice was growing ragged, but the words kept rushing out of their mouth even as they tore their throat raw. “Were you ever really interested in getting to know me as a person? Or did you just want to make me fit in with your Christmas vision?”

It felt like the wound that Aziraphale had carved in him earlier had scabbed over, only to be pried open and scraped raw again. Was that really what everyone thought of him? He swallowed his pride, and reminded himself that he had to listen to them if he wanted to get this apology right, no matter how much it hurt. 

“Okay, fine. Maybe you’re right,” Gabriel admitted. “When we first met, I saw you as an obstacle in the way of something that I wanted.”

“Oh, and you always get everything you want, is that it?” Beelzebub sneered.

He shuffled his feet on the wet pavement. “Yes. You’re right about that too. I’ve gone through most of my life getting what I want. So when there’s something I want that doesn’t come easily, like the Christmas decoration contest, I get obsessed with it. I do everything I can to get it, even when it hurts the people around me.” Crowley and Aziraphale had made that clear to him.

“But I don’t want to be like that anymore,” Gabriel said, taking a step closer to them. “I don’t want to be the tyrant who controls the neighborhood Christmas decorations. I don’t want to be the person who no one feels like they can open up to or be themselves around. You made me realize that I want to change that about myself.”

“Save it,” Beelzebub cut him off. “If you’re going to go into some speech about how I made you a better person, I don’t want to hear it. I’m not here for your self-improvement fantasy.”

“I know you’re not. I just want to tell you something,” Gabriel said. “I forfeited the contest.”

Beelzebub’s eyes widened and they tilted their head. “What?”

“The judges are going to come tonight. And I’m not going to be there to talk to them, because I decided it was more important to come here and apologize to you.”

“You sound so proud of yourself,” said Beelzebub.

“You don’t have to accept my apology just because of that,” Gabriel said. He remembered what Aziraphale had told him, that he just had to be honest about his feelings, and bit the inside of his cheek. Easier said than done, indeed. 

“I just want you to know that what I want isn’t winning the contest anymore. It’s being with you,” Gabriel said. “I know it isn’t going to be easy for me to make it up to you. But I want you to let me try. I just want things to be good between us again.”

Beelzebub’s sharp laugh rang out across the empty parking lot. “That’s what you want? All we’ve ever done is snipe at each other about Christmas decorations. Things have never been good between us.”

“All right. Fair enough. How about we start over, then?” Gabriel said. He crossed the rest of the distance between them, and held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Gabriel. I live next door.”

Beelzebub cracked a wry smile, and placed their hand in his. “I’m Beelzebub. I love Halloween and hate Christmas and I’m your worst nightmare. Nice to meet you.”

With their hands interlocked between them, Gabriel pulled them into his arms. Their clothes were soaked through from the rain, clinging to their small frame and chilling them to their core. He wanted to hold them until they were warm again, tuck them against his chest and never let go. They went still for a moment, but he was relieved when they returned the hug, arms sliding under his jacket and encircling his waist. He rested his chin in the space alongside their neck.

“I’m sorry I took down your Halloween decorations,” he said. 

“And I’m sorry I told Hastur and Ligur to TP your house,” Beelzebub whispered.

Gabriel pulled his head back and looked at them incredulously. “You what?!”

“It was their idea first! They wanted to make some mischief. I just… pointed them in the direction of your house.” They looked away from him with a sheepish grin.

His anger over that incident was long gone. All he felt in that moment was euphoria, with Beelzebub in his arms. “You’re a menace,” he said.

“And you’re a prick,” Beelzebub replied.

His hand moved up to cradle the back of their head, their frizzy black hair damp with raindrops. Their eyes were half-lidded, unfocused, looking up at him but not quite meeting his gaze. His lips covered theirs, softly, tentatively. Beelzebub rose up on their tiptoes to deepen the kiss, tugging his lip into their mouth with their teeth. Gabriel let out a noise of surprise, but he wasn’t displeased in the slightest. He tightened his hand in their hair and pulled them closer.

That feeling surged up in his chest again. He hadn’t been able to identify it until that night, but it had always been there, drawing him closer to them even when he didn’t expect it. That feeling that being with Beelzebub made everything right.


	5. truce

Gabriel sat on the couch in his extravagantly decorated living room, on the night of his annual Christmas party. The guests who remained lingered in the kitchen, leaving him and Beelzebub alone in the living room. Beelzebub was sprawled out over the couch, their legs draped over his lap, and he rubbed the arch of one of their bare feet with his thumb while they leaned their head against his shoulder. 

“Oh, before I forget, I got you a Christmas present,” said Gabriel. He reached under one of the pillows and pulled out a small, rectangular box, and placed it in Beelzebub’s lap. 

He hoped getting them a gift wasn’t too much too soon. He held his breath with anticipation as they untied the ribbon and lifted the lid. Their expression was one of genuine surprise when they looked inside. “Gloves?”

“Yeah, I… noticed that your hands are always cold, so I thought maybe you could use a pair of gloves, for when you’re doing errands and stuff.” He bit his lip. He really did sound like a creep for noticing something like that. Maybe Beelzebub would reject the gift. He could already feel them giving him their signature judgmental stare.

But instead, Beelzebub was focused on the box. They pulled out the black cashmere gloves and slipped them onto their hands. “Wow, they’re so soft,” they said. “These are way fancier than anything I would get myself.”

“That’s kind of the point,” said Gabriel. “Merry Christmas, Beelzebub.”

“I actually got you a gift, too,” Beelzebub said. “Although it feels like kind of a lame gift compared to yours.” They leaned down to reach their tote bag on the floor, slipped the box with the gloves inside, and pulled out a larger box wrapped in red paper. They handed it to him, and he unwrapped it curiously. 

When he opened it, his chest tightened with a rush of affection that threatened to swell up and choke his throat. It was the angel decoration that Beelzebub had snatched from him at the party store.

“You didn’t spray paint it black,” Gabriel said.

“Yeah. Couldn’t find a use for it, as it turns out. I only wanted it because you wanted it,” Beelzebub admitted. “It’s too late for this year, but I thought you would appreciate it more than I would.”

“Thank you, Beelzebub,” Gabriel said. “This reminds me, I was thinking about our Christmas decorations for next year.”

“Already? You can’t be serious,” Beelzebub teased. 

“It’s never too early to start planning,” Gabriel said with complete sincerity. “You know, I’ve always wanted to decorate your house. With that big lawn, it has so much potential. I could do your Christmas decorations next year.”

“Why? I’m perfectly capable of doing them myself,” Beelzebub protested.

“Not without spraining your ankle, apparently,” Gabriel said, pinching their foot. 

Beelzebub smacked him on the shoulder in retaliation. “That was one time. And I’m better now,” they said. “What’s in it for me if I let you do my Christmas decorations?”

“Well…” Gabriel brushed his nose against Beelzebub’s temple, bringing his lips close to their ear. “I’d let you decorate my house for Halloween.”

“Oh?” said Beelzebub, leaning into the touch. 

“Yup. I’ve never decorated my house for Halloween before. I always started my Christmas decorations so early that I skipped it. I wouldn’t even know where to start,” Gabriel explained. “But I saw your decorations, and I think you could really do something great with it.”

“And why would I want to help you?” Beelzebub ran their fingers through the short hair on the back of Gabriel’s neck, making him shiver with the sensation. 

“Well, from one person obsessed with holiday decorating to another, I always get excited about having more space to decorate,” Gabriel said. “So? Do we have a deal?”

“I don’t know,” Beelzebub murmured, their voice dropping lower than expected for the levity of the conversation up until that point. They turned their head away from him, and they had a distant look in their eyes. 

Gabriel’s hand traced the side of their jaw, tilting them back towards him. “Hey, it doesn’t have to be that hard of a decision. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. It was just an idea.”

“It’s just… you say that like you’re so sure that we’re still going to be in the same place next year,” Beelzebub said.

“What do you mean? Are you moving again?” Gabriel asked cluelessly, before he realized that they didn’t mean the same place as in the neighborhood. They meant here, where they were in Gabriel’s lap, on his couch, in his house. The two of them choosing to share their space with each other. 

Their voice wavered when they asked, “I mean, do you really think that by this time next year, we’re still going to be… you know, together?”

Gabriel turned towards them, cupped their face in both of his hands. “I cannot tell you how much I want that to be the case,” he said. “As long as you want me, I will do everything in my power to still be the person you want.”

Beelzebub’s gaze was still adrift. “Big promises,” they said. “How do you know that this isn’t going to be just a holiday fling?”

Gabriel’s thumbs stroked their cheekbones. He had known from the beginning that this wouldn’t be one of the things in his life that had always been easy for him. He would mess up, and he would have to work for it if he wanted this fragile thing growing between them to stay. But, unlike the Christmas light contest, this was worth all the effort he could give. 

“I don’t know,” Gabriel said with a sigh. “But I want it to be more than that. And if you’re ever unsatisfied with me, I want you to tell me so that I can fix it. That’s what I’m counting on to make sure that we’re still going to be in the same place next year. Can you do that?”

Beelzebub nodded. “Okay. I’ll try.” 

“So, the deal?” Gabriel repeated again, although this time it had more meaning to it than just a Christmas and Halloween decoration trade.

“Deal,” Beelzebub agreed, and sealed it with a kiss, long and slow and lingering. That was, undoubtedly, the best part of the deal. 

At that moment, Crowley walked into the room. “Jeez, you two, get a room!”

“This is my house!” Gabriel called back. But he couldn’t really be frustrated with Crowley for the comment, because Beelzebub was still looking at him, with their face so close to his, and they were laughing. He couldn’t resent anything that could make that happen. 

“Whatever,” said Crowley. “Anyway, Aziraphale and I are about to head out. He’s had a bit too much to drink.”

“I have not. I feel absolutely tickety-boo,” said Aziraphale, stumbling into the room and leaning against Crowley’s arm. “You two make a lovely couple, by the way.”

“See what I mean?” said Crowley, jerking his thumb at Aziraphale. “He wanted me to ask if you need help cleaning up or anything.”

“No, I think we’ve got it,” said Gabriel. “Thanks for the offer, though. And for coming to the party. And thanks for, um, well… everything.”

Crowley gave a single nod, acknowledging that he knew Gabriel was talking about much more than the party. “Don’t mention it,” he said. 

“Have a good night! Merry Christmas!” said Aziraphale with an overly cheerful wave as Crowley escorted him out the door.

Once the door shut behind the last two guests, Beelzebub immediately tackled Gabriel and pinned him down against the couch. They straddled his waist and pressed another kiss to his lips, fiercer than the last one, uninhibited by the danger that someone could walk in on them. Their teeth found his lower lip, offered as it was so eagerly, and Gabriel moaned as they rolled his lip into their mouth. 

He recalled the warning that Aziraphale had given him, but not meant for him to hear, on the day when he first went to meet Beelzebub. _I hope they don’t eat him alive._ Aziraphale couldn’t have known at the time just how accurate his prediction would be. In just a few short months, Beelzebub had consumed him, until his need for them was all that he knew. Everything he thought he wanted fell away, replaced by the fervent hope of getting to spend one more moment in their presence. It was anything but a casual holiday fling. If he was lucky, and did everything right, it would be the rest of his future.

Gabriel broke the kiss to catch his breath. “So, now that all the guests are gone, what do you say we take this upstairs?” he said with a cheeky smile.

“I would really rather not bother with stairs right now,” Beelzebub replied.

Gabriel laughed, and kissed them again in earnest. He couldn’t even remember how he had ever been so obsessed with a Christmas light competition, how he had ever wanted anything more than this.


End file.
